Hamlin Kindergartener Supports Refugees

Hamlin kindergartner Lily and her sister Abby heard their parents discussing refugees and the recent travel ban. They became curious and wanted to understand why there were refugees. They wanted to know what makes someone a refugee? Their parents explained that many people had their homes destroyed by war and were looking for a safe place to start a new life. Immediately, Lily and Abby wanted to know how they could help.

Lily decided she wanted to have a bake sale for the refugees and donate all the money so they could come to United States and feel safe. This led into a longer discussion about other people who also needed help.

The girls selected three organizations to support with their bake sale based on their interests.

1. Helping the refugees (International Refugee Assistance Project)
2. Celebrating Love and people getting the support they need to be themselves (The Trevor Project)
3. Protecting the environment (Natural Resources Defense Council)

They decided they wanted to help the environment because Lily wants to be a entomologist when she grows up. They picked the NRDC because they “speak for the trees and the bugs.”

Lastly we support love. We have open dialogue in our home about how everyone has the right to love who they want to love. We selected The Trevor Project because the girls wanted to support love and people getting the support they need to be themselves. The Trevor Project provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) young people ages 13-24. We looked at other organizations, but we wanted to honor our daughters request to support people being able to be themselves and we thought this was the best choice.

The girls spent 4 days making over 400 cookies and baked goods. Lily and her sister ran the bake sale (with the help of their parents). Lily took hand-made posters to school, made announcements in her class and emails were sent to a couple of families. 12 kindergarten families came to support Lily and Abby and even her 4th grade big sister Mary came. Both of Lily’s Hamlin kindergarten teachers stopped by too.

Our favorite memory from the day was a man walking by who stopped and teared up when he saw the bake sale. He told us he was a refugee and it gave him so much hope to know that young people cared. Lily said, “I do care” and gave him a hug.

The girls raised over $1200 for the 3 organizations from the bake sale.

The quote we keep repeating to the girls is “we can do small things with great love”. Lily and her sister both understand how impactful small things can be. They were both glowing with pride because they know they made a difference.